ValiRx shares soared on Friday on the announcement of a major licensing deal worth up to £16 million plus royalties after Ambrose Healthcare Ltd exercised its option to license the VAL401 cancer treatment asset.

The AIM-listed life sciences company announced that Ambrose served notice to exercise the pre-agreed option on VAL401, triggering an Intellectual Property Licence Agreement between the parties.

ValiRx will receive 576,000 ordinary shares in Ambrose immediately, with clinical and commercial milestone payments totalling up to £16 million plus ongoing royalties.

The news was cheered by investors, and the stock surged 30% on Friday.

“We are pleased to be able to complete this technology license for VAL401 with Ambrose and we have been working to identify multiple funding partners to progress VAL401 through the various clinical stages with several options under discussion,” said Mark Eccleston, CEO of ValiRx.

“In addition, we are also exploring short term opportunities to support a funded preclinical validation for VAL401 through our wholly owned subsidiary, Inaphaea Biolabs Limited, which has 19 pancreatic Patient Derived Cell models. These models can be applied in 3D systems as New Approach Methods which are receiving growing support from the FDA in support for IND submissions.”

Ambrose Healthcare will assume all future patent costs and committed to completing the development and commercialisation of VAL401 at its own expense.

The deal is a major validation of ValiRx’s model and investors will hope it marks a turning point for shares that have been under considerable pressure.

The FTSE 100 ticked higher on Friday as investors breathed a sigh of relief after Trump said he would decide on Iran strikes within two weeks, marking a de-escalation from comments made earlier in the week.

“The chances of the immediate involvement of US forces in the Israel-Iran conflict have receded after Donald Trump said he would make a decision whether to attack Iran’s nuclear development facilities ‘within the next two weeks’,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation are also in train with a delegation from the UK, France and Germany set to hold talks with Iranian officials in Geneva later today.”

It’s worth noting that Trump has set two-week deadlines before. Many have either been extended or never been acted on.

The relief that the US would take more time to consider a strike that threatens a wider conflict was felt in UK stocks, and the FTSE 100 was trading 0.4% higher at the time of writing.

“Markets recovered some ground as the US appeared to temporarily pull back from the prospect of intervening directly in the Israel-Iran conflict,” says AJ Bell investment analyst Dan Coatsworth.

“Trading in Asia was mixed as China kept interest rates unchanged, while the US market was closed yesterday for the Juneteenth federal holiday. Early on Friday, futures prices implied modest weakness when Wall Street opens later on.

“Airlines, banks and other financials were among the stocks leading the way in London. Among the laggards, housebuilders were weak after Berkeley’s full-year results disappointed, and Shell and BP surrendered some of their recent gains as oil prices eased back from the highs seen earlier this week.”

Berkeley Group

Berkeley Group Holdings was rooted to the bottom of the FTSE 100 leaderboard after issuing guidance for lower profits in the year ahead as it counts the cost of poor economic conditions. Berkeley shares were down 7% after saying it saw profit before tax at £450m this year after recording over £500m last year.

“The departure of its chair and a warning that returns will be below targeted levels in the medium term put housebuilder Berkeley on the back foot,” Dan Coatsworth said.

“The company is guiding for a substantial drop in pre-tax profit for the current year and for profit to remain flat in the year afterwards, with the relatively downbeat outlook reflecting a volatile operating environment.

“Berkeley previously earned a reputation for shrewdly calling the housing market cycle, so the company’s conservative guidance in its latest results announcement has made investors sit up and take notice. That’s caused shares across the housebuilding sector to fall.”

Apart from Berkeley Group, there were no major losers on Friday.

Melrose topped the leaderboard again as the engineering group continued its recovery from Trump-induced losses. The stock was 4% higher at the time of writing.

Cyclical sectors were in favour with FTSE 100 miners Glencore and Antofagasta rising. Standard Chartered had a solid session, adding 2%.

 Berkeley Group shares crumbled on Friday as the housebuilder released year-end results littered with reasons for investors to be concerned.

Profit before tax fell 5.1% to £529m and the builder’s net cash position fell to £337m, raising questions about the outlook for shareholder distributions.

Cash due on forward sales dropped to £1.4bn, underscoring a shaky medium-term outlook for the group.

“The departure of its chair and a warning that returns will be below targeted levels in the medium term put housebuilder Berkeley on the back foot,” explained AJ Bell investment analyst Dan Coatsworth.

“The company is guiding for a substantial drop in pre-tax profit for the current year and for profit to remain flat in the year afterwards, with the relatively downbeat outlook reflecting a volatile operating environment.

“Berkeley previously earned a reputation for shrewdly calling the housing market cycle, so the company’s conservative guidance in its latest results announcement has made investors sit up and take notice. That’s caused shares across the housebuilding sector to fall.”

Berkeley isn’t alone in having to deal with problems in the wider economy, but its outlook for financial performance is at odds with other housebuilders. While Berkeley sees profit before falling over the next year, peers such as Taylor Wimpey have guided for profits in the year ahead to be higher than those recorded last year.

Berkeley’s pessimistic guidance is playing a big part in the 8% decline in shares today.

“Higher interest rates, shaky consumer confidence, overriding macroeconomic uncertainty as well as tougher regulations have all contributed to potential issues facing house builders at the moment,” said eToro Market Analyst Adam Vettese.

“The consensus beat appears to support the resilience of Berkeley’s brownfield regeneration model in the high demand London and South East area. Over 75% of 2026 sales are already secured, supporting guidance for £450m in pre-tax profit, although this reflects a decline from this year.”

The FTSE 100 slipped in risk-off trade on Thursday as investors reacted to the news that the US was considering launching an attack against Iran.

It would mark a significant escalation in the Middle East conflict and threatens to stoke inflationary pressures for major economies that are already seeing signs of economic slowdown.

London’s leading index was 0.3% weaker at the time of writing.

“Markets are back under pressure as US officials continue to weigh the possibility of direct involvement in the escalating Iran-Israel conflict,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Any move in that direction would likely rattle investor confidence further, raising fears of a broader regional escalation and dragging in other major powers like China, where trade talks with the US are already on a knife’s edge. The FTSE 100 has mirrored the global risk-off mood, slipping in early trading and giving back yesterday’s modest gains.”

Markets were also digesting the latest instalment from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England and their decisions to keep rates on hold and wait for further data.

“Central banks are in a ‘wait and see’ mood with regards to interest rates, despite broad concerns about a weaker economic outlook,” explained Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. 

Most stocks were down at the time of writing in London as investors trimmed positions amid rising Middle East tensions.

A number of the top fallers, such as Persimmon and United Utilities, were trading lower after losing the rights to their latest dividends.

BP and Shell were again among the gainers as oil prices ticked higher.

Defensive ‘safer’ stocks also gained on the session. Supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury’s rose, while the safety of Vodafone’s reliable cash flows caught the attention of investors, with shares adding 1%.

Whitbread

Whitbread shares fell on Thursday after the hospitality group said its UK Premier Inn chain suffered a 2% drop in accommodation sales in the first quarter. The group’s UK food and beverage sales sank 16%. Germany remained a bright spot, but growth of 16% wasn’t enough to offset weakness in the UK.

“Normally-reliable Whitbread provided an unpleasant surprise for investors with their poorer update this morning,” said Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at IG.

“Always a useful bellwether of the UK consumer, Whitbread suggests that the economy is still in a tough patch, though the better Germany performance was at least some comfort for investors. Hopefully the longer-term turnaround will bear fruit in due course; once a star performer, Whitbread’s shares have lost direction over the last decade, although the dividend helps to boost their attractiveness.”